Fast Pitching! The Game Killed By Nintendo and i-Phones

The last time I played Strike-Out/Fast Pitching was in the late 1970's in Ottawa, Illinois at the old Shabonna Elementary School.  My Buddy Charlie Olson and I were clearing out his late-father's house and selling items.  It was hotter than twenty- two rats making love in a pair of old knee socks and we took a break. After a guzzling a couple of quarts of Rhinelander, we decided to play 'fast-pitching' at the school across the street from Charlie's Pa's house.

There was a nicely chalked box already there.  We grabbed a bat and rubber baseball that was as pock-marked as a teenage boy and  called 'play ball!'   Charlie was and remains a superb athlete and could bring the heat.  I am a spaz - nevertheless, when Charlie burned one low and outside SAMAAAASH!!!!!!!!! That sonofabitch sailed for what seemed . . .a few minutes and   the rubber missile sphere shattered upon reaching the sub stratosphere!  Thus, ending the game. " Hickey!!!!!!!"

So ends my glory days.

I played fast-pitching all over the south side as a kid.  We had a dried up cholera infested viaduct ( now) sealed up with concrete) at 75th Place at Wood under the Metra tracks.  Both walls were chalked by the likes of Jimmy Shea, Al McFarland, Maurey Lanigan, Larry Fiscelli, Terry Smith and the Walsh Brothers.  Mostly we played at Clara Barton Elementary and on rare occasions the Hamilton Dairy Barns at 75th Place and Paulina.

Every surface of smooth concrete was a PlayStation.

One rarely sees little guys playing fast pitching, or little girls chalking Sky Blue patterns on sidewalks.

Chicago author Dennis Foley has a movie about to be produced and shot in my Morgan Park/Beverly neighborhood.  It called Old Bob: A Story of Hope. Dennis uses the chalk box as art work for the yarn.

Younger persons will be lost on the meaning.  Drive-bys, Nintendos, I-phones and adult inspired organized fun have permanently damaged a child's ability to play, it seems to me.  Innocence demands active imaginations and electric gizmos do not help and neither do needy adult supervisors living their shallow dreams through kids.

I vote for more pick-up baseball, football and chase games organized by the kids themselves.  I am blessed to watch the little girls and guys in Morgan Park play sewer cover rules baseball at the corner of 108th & Maplewood, but rarely see it going on anywhere else.  And I get out alot.

So do others.

Chicago architecture critic Lee Bey wrote a wonderful piece for WBEZ a while ago that explains the game of Strike Out aka Fast Pitching.

"So seeing two on a single wall in one day caught me by surprise. I didn't even have my camera with me. I had to make do with my cellphone cam.
"In Strike Out, a pitch inside the box was a strike, but a hit was judged a single, double, triple or homer, depending on the distance the ball traveled after leaving the bat; there were no bases for the batter to run. If the ball was caught on the fly by the opposing team, it was an out. If the pitcher caught the ball on a single bounce, it was an out.
"The building was an important part of the game because you needed one with a flat brick, concrete or limestone surface with enough mass to absorb the energy of the fast pitch, yet return the rubber ball without enough velocity to reach the pitcher on a strike. And no glass near the box. Strike Out was great way to play baseball without having 18 people. A team could be as few as one to four players.
"I was wearing a suit and had my baseball-loving daughters (two teens and a 'tween) with me when I photographed the Strike Out box. Maybe I'll double back one day with a rubber baseball to see if my 44-year-old arm has the stuff, still. Just gotta remember to bring the shoulder ointment."

I'd love to see our young people give the thumb-dummy addiction a rest.  I'd love to see kids get out and play. 

Bank Robber Returns to Finish His Beer -Had to be Stiegl Pils!

PORT RICHEY, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a Tampa Bay area man ordered a beer at a bar, left to rob a nearby bank then came back to finish his beer.
The Pasco County Sheriff's Office says 52-year-old John Robin Whittle was arrested at the Hayloft Bar in Port Richey on Thursday afternoon. Deputies say he's the man who robbed a Wells-Fargo bank branch earlier, but not before stopping off at the Hayloft for a brew.
A bartender there says Whittle ordered a beer, disappeared for about 30 minutes and then returned to his beer. Deputies say they arrested him at the bar about 10 minutes after he left the bank.
Whittle remained in jail early Friday on $10,000 bond. No attorney was listed for him.

The Hayloft Bar - population: Bartender and a thirsty armed robber of the Wells Fargo Bank -recently returned.

Bartender, " Took you long enough . . .I put a coaster over it and placed in the cooler."


Robber, "Thanks pal. Here's an Abe Lincoln for your troubles and professional attention to hospitality ethics. I had a little bit of business that needed attending. Thanks for keeping an eye on my Stiegl Pils*. This is some beer my friend. Several years ago, I was fishing a creek off of the Kankakee River and ran into two teachers from Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee. They were named Olson and Hickey. We caught a couple of stringers full of smallies and spent the next two hours cutting fillets and putting them in plastic bags. Olson said, "Let's drive over to Gardener (Illinois) and get a couple of Stiegl Pils. I was hooked by the way the two them talked about that beer.

Well, I followed them right into the Gardener House Inn - a restaurant and bar owned by Joe and his wife Waldetrou from Austria. You know What? They had a hammer-head shark on the wall that Joe caught right here in Port Richey. Well, sir that was my first taste of Stiegl.

When I saw you had it here I had to order one. Stiegl -his has become my beer. I'll sip this tasty beer as I imagine myself in Vienna or Salzburg or some rustic village in the Alps. It pours a nice straw colour with a nice foamy head. It tastes of bread like sweetness with a nice hoppy finish. It's not bitter at all, kind of sour at the finish and the bready sweetness stays with you. It's incredibly good and I think a fine example of a really good German pils."

The doors of Hayloft Bar simultaneously burst open front back and side and into the afternoon dimness and welcome crowded heavily armed Port Richey Swat Officers and Pasco County Sheriff's Police.

Port Richey Police Officer - "Put the beer down! Place your hands on the Bar!"

Pasco County Sheriff - " Hold on, Office! The man is drinking a Stiegl Pils. Show some respect. Let this man finish a wonderful Pils! You, sir, are under arrest for the armed robbery of Wells Fargo Bank and are . . . are quite obviously a very discerning pintsman. My compliments, Sir! Take your time"

*Stiegl Pils - It is that important!

An elegant, refined beer with a pleasant hoppy bitterness.

The lighter, gently kiln-dried malt gives Stiegl Pils its light golden colour. The marvellous bouquet of the finest Saaz hops, a characteristic bitterness and liveliness make it a favourite of beer connoisseurs that love a delicate hoppy note and a fine, aromatic flavour.